Revelation 11:18

11:18 The ¹  nations ²  were enraged,

but ³  your wrath has come,

and the time has come for the dead to be judged,

and the time has come to give to your servants, ⁴ 

the prophets, their reward,

as well as to the saints

and to those who revere ⁵  your name, both small and great,

and the time has come ⁶  to destroy those who destroy ⁷  the earth.”

Revelation 15:4

15:4 Who will not fear you, O Lord,

and glorify ⁸  your name, because you alone are holy? ⁹ 

All nations ¹⁰  will come and worship before you

for your righteous acts ¹¹  have been revealed.”

Revelation 19:5

19:5 Then ¹²  a voice came from the throne, saying:

“Praise our God

all you his servants,

and all you who fear Him,

both the small and the great!”

Genesis 22:12

22:12 “Do not harm the boy!” ¹³  the angel said. ¹⁴  “Do not do anything to him, for now I know ¹⁵  that you fear ¹⁶  God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”

Psalms 36:1

Psalm 36 ¹⁷ 

For the music director; written by the Lord’s servant, David; an oracle. ¹⁸ 

36:1 An evil man is rebellious to the core. ¹⁹ 

He does not fear God, ²⁰ 

Psalms 89:7

89:7 a God who is honored ²¹  in the great angelic assembly, ²² 

and more awesome than ²³  all who surround him?

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

12:13 Having heard everything, I have reached this conclusion: ²⁴ 

Fear God and keep his commandments,

because this is the whole duty ²⁵  of man.

12:14 For God will evaluate every deed, ²⁶ 

including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

[11:18]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[11:18]  ² tn Or “The Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[11:18]  ³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[11:18]  ⁴ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[11:18]  ⁵ tn Grk “who fear.”

[11:18]  ⁶ tn The words “the time has come” do not occur except at the beginning of the verse; the phrase has been repeated for emphasis and contrast. The Greek has one finite verb (“has come”) with a compound subject (“your wrath,” “the time”), followed by three infinitive clauses (“to be judged,” “to give,” “to destroy”). The rhetorical power of the repetition of the finite verb in English thus emulates the rhetorical power of its lone instance in Greek.

[11:18]  ⁷ tn Or “who deprave.” There is a possible wordplay here on two meanings for διαφθείρω (diafqeirw), with the first meaning “destroy” and the second meaning either “to ruin” or “to make morally corrupt.” See L&N 20.40.

[15:4]  ⁸ tn Or “and praise.”

[15:4]  ⁹ sn Because you alone are holy. In the Greek text the sentence literally reads “because alone holy.” Three points can be made in connection with John’s language here: (1) Omitting the second person, singular verb “you are” lays stress on the attribute of God’s holiness. (2) The juxtaposition of alone with holy stresses the unique nature of God’s holiness and complete “otherness” in relationship to his creation. It is not just moral purity which is involved in the use of the term holy, though it certainly includes that. It is also the pervasive OT idea that although God is deeply involved in the governing of his creation, he is to be regarded as separate and distinct from it. (3) John’s use of the term holy is also intriguing since it is the term ὅσιος (Josios) and not the more common NT term ἅγιος (Jagios). The former term evokes images of Christ’s messianic status in early Christian preaching. Both Peter in Acts 2:27 and Paul in Acts 13:35 apply Psalm 16:10 (LXX) to Jesus, referring to him as the “holy one” (ὅσιος). It is also the key term in Acts 13:34 (Isa 55:3 [LXX]) where it refers to the “holy blessings” (i.e., forgiveness and justification) brought about through Jesus in fulfillment of Davidic promise. Thus, in Rev 15:3-4, when John refers to God as “holy,” using the term ὅσιος in a context where the emphasis is on both God and Christ, there might be an implicit connection between divinity and the Messiah. This is bolstered by the fact that the Lamb is referred to in other contexts as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (cf. 1:5; 17:14; 19:16 and perhaps 11:15; G. K. Beale, Revelation [NIGTC], 796-97).

[15:4]  ¹⁰ tn Or “all the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[15:4]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps, “your sentences of condemnation.” On δικαίωμα (dikaiwma) in this context BDAG 249 s.v. 2. states, “righteous deed…δι᾿ ἑνὸς δικαιώματος (opp. παράπτωμα) Ro 5:18. – B 1:2 (cp. Wengst, Barnabas-brief 196, n.4); Rv 15:4 (here perh.= ‘sentence of condemnation’ [cp. Pla., Leg. 9, 864e; ins fr. Asia Minor: LBW 41, 2 [κατὰ] τὸ δι[καί]ωμα τὸ κυρω[θέν]= ‘acc. to the sentence which has become valid’]; difft. Wengst, s. above); 19:8.”

[19:5]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[22:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “Do not extend your hand toward the boy.”

[22:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Do not extend…’”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the context for clarity. The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[22:12]  ¹⁵ sn For now I know. The test was designed to see if Abraham would be obedient (see v. 1).

[22:12]  ¹⁶ sn In this context fear refers by metonymy to obedience that grows from faith.

[36:1]  ¹⁷ sn Psalm 36. Though evil men plan to harm others, the psalmist is confident that the Lord is the just ruler of the earth who gives and sustains all life. He prays for divine blessing and protection and anticipates God’s judgment of the wicked.

[36:1]  ¹⁸ tn In the Hebrew text the word נאם (“oracle”) appears at the beginning of the next verse (v. 2 in the Hebrew text because the superscription is considered v. 1). The resulting reading, “an oracle of rebellion for the wicked [is] in the midst of my heart” (cf. NIV) apparently means that the psalm, which foresees the downfall of the wicked, is a prophetic oracle about the rebellion of the wicked which emerges from the soul of the psalmist. One could translate, “Here is a poem written as I reflected on the rebellious character of evil men.” Another option, followed in the translation above, is to attach נאם (nÿ’um, “oracle”) with the superscription. For another example of a Davidic poem being labeled an “oracle,” see 2 Sam 23:1.

[36:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “[the] rebellion of an evil man [is] in the midst of my heart.” The translation assumes a reading “in the midst of his heart” (i.e., “to the core”) instead of “in the midst of my heart,” a change which finds support in a a few medieval Hebrew mss, the Hebrew text of Origen’s Hexapla, and the Syriac.

[36:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “there is no dread of God before his eyes.” The phrase “dread of God” refers here to a healthy respect for God which recognizes that he will punish evil behavior.

[89:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “feared.”

[89:7]  ²² tn Heb “in the great assembly of the holy ones.”

[89:7]  ²³ tn Or perhaps “feared by.”

[12:13]  ²⁴ tn Heb “The end of the matter, everything having been heard.”

[12:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “This is all men”; or “This is the whole of man.” The phrase זֶה כָּל־הָאָדָם (zeh kol-ha’adam, “this is all men”) features rhetorical elision of a key word. The ambiguity over the elided word has led to no less than five basic approaches: (1) “this is the whole duty of man” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NAB, NIV); (2) “this is the duty of all men” (MLB, ASV margin, RSV margin); (3) “this applies to all men” (NASB, NJPS); (4) “this is the whole duty of all men” (NRSV, Moffatt); and (5) “there is no more to man than this” (NEB). The four-fold repetition of כֹּל (kol, “all”) in 12:13-14 suggests that Qoheleth is emphasizing the “bottom line,” that is, the basic duty of man is simply to fear and obey God: After “all” (כֹּל) has been heard in the book, his conclusion is that the “whole” (כֹּל) duty of man is to obey God because God will bring “all” (כֹּל) acts into judgment, including “all” (כֹּל) that is hidden, whether good or bad. See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 3:596.

[12:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “will bring every deed into judgment.”